Edwin Morgan Winter

Edwin Morgan Poems

Winter

> Denial "Dearest blue's not there, though poets would find it" Morgan seems to be denying that he is a poet this shows how much this bleak scene seems to have depressed him

> Repetition of "go/goes" "the year goes" Shows the negativity in the poem This as the opening line brings us down straight away

> Repetition of "fade(s)" "the voices fade" The boys-the only human life in the poem- are leaving A reminder that summer has left, makes us feel depressed

> Repetition of "decay(s)" "the woods decay" The trees are dying in the cold Again, everything that reminds us of summer (voices outside, trees etc) are leaving this makes us feel depressed

> Alliteration of 'g' sounds "The swan on Bingham’s pond, a ghost, comes and goes. It goes" The alliteration draws our attention to the swan  the swan is not quite alive because of the depressing, cold, dark season

> Alliteration of 'b' sounds "It holds, bears gulls that stand around surprised blinking in the heavy light, bears boys when skates take over" B is a heavy, thudding, dead sound The alliteration of this sound draws our attention to the boys who are not ‘alive’ because the skates seem to be controlling them

> Pathetic fallacy "many a summer dies" (whole poem) The weather is changing and so is Morgan’s mood  The happiness of summer is gone and he is left with the cold winter. ‘many’ suggests we have lost more than we ever actually had winter=depression/sadness

> Sense of sound "Cut by evening cries, by warring air" A painful sound ties in with the mood of the poem Winter sounds are painful and violent

> 1st person "I find one stark scene" Half way through the poem is the first time the author directly refers to himself It shows that it is hard to find life in winter with everything else in the poem leaving, fading or dying

> Present tense "The year goes" The poem is unfolding in front of our eyes but we cannot change or influence it and we are not involved Present tense also makes it feel unending

> Metaphor "The swan on Bingham’s pond, a ghost, comes and goes" This says the swan is not doing anything other than swimming up and down the pond which makes it like a ghost-it’s not fully there Ties in with the poem’s theme of death and the never ending winter

> Metaphor "Many a summer dies" The happiness of summer is gone and he is left with the cold winter. ‘many’ suggests we have lost more than we ever actually had

> Oxymoron "Blinking in the heavy light" Words whose ideas clash A description of the light in winter, when dark clouds hang over the hills, grabs our attention.

> Contradiction "The swan white ice glints only crystal beyond white" Morgan creates a nice colour metaphor which makes the ice seem pretty but pulls back from it to say it is ‘beyond white’

> Negative verbs "breaks" "fades" "decays" Morgan finds nothing positive about winter and wants us to feel the same so uses negative verbs to put us down

> Summing up "At last, the lamps go too" Morgan is beginning to end the poem He says that even artificial light is going

> Nihilism "Pane of ice that sees nothing and nothing sees" All the living things have been taken out of the poem so there is nothing left to notice the ice

> Connotations "dearest" The loved colour which poets look for in winter and use to describe the season

> Connotations "stark" Bleak baron desolate cold hard unpleasant

> Connotations "cut" Painful sound violence

> Connotations "cries" Cries of the boys voices usually happy children’s playing voices in summer but they are painful to Morgan in winter

> Connotations "warring" Conflict and violence in the winter air

> Connotations "monstrous" The fog is so awful, thick and unstoppable

> Connotations " the west" Wild west unknown unexplored

> Connotations "dual- carriageway" Unpoetic left the world of nature  boring built for speed cuts through countryside

> Connotations "dead" Inanimate can’t engage with it gone

> Connotations "pane" window glass unatural

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